Heart Lines
by NatLou87
Summary: Sometimes you need to just follow your heart, no matter how dark and twisted it's path...


_**Something you should know before carrying on. We're starting around season 4 and Haley is already dead, she died in a car accident at the time her and Aaron were separated in season 3.**_

 **Chapter One**

 _Hold me and love me  
_ _Just wanna touch you for a minute  
_ _Maybe three seconds is enough  
_ _For my heart to quit it_

 _ **Lovegame – Lady Gaga**_

"Already that time huh." Olivia Rook said, in that soft English accent, holding the sheet to her chest as she pulled herself up into a seated position on the bed. She combed her slender hand through her glossy, tousled, chocolate curls as her honey brown eyes surveyed the man across the room.

"The team will be awake soon." Aaron Hotchner said as he began to tie the laces of his shoes, keeping his eyes down and focused on the task at hand. "We need to be ready to head back to the plane."

"No need to explain Aaron." Olivia said, a small sigh escaping her lips as she drew back the sheets and rose out of the bed. Her body, aching pleasantly as she stood casting a look back down at the tousled sheets on the bed.

Aaron cast a glance at her naked form as she stood; reaching for the dressing gown she had laid out over the chair. Once her athletic body was hidden from him he looked away again, standing to reach for his jacket, the silence falling between them deafening. He always hated this part.

"This…last night…it can't…" he started, the words almost sounding rehearsed as the fell from his mouth.

"It can't happen again. I know the drill Aaron." She reminded him, sparing him a small glance. Her chocolate curls fell past her shoulders, a dishevelled mess, only serving as a reminder of what they'd spent the night doing. The hours they'd spent together, were no words had been spoken; were they ceased being Aaron Hotchner and Olivia Rook, had gone by too fast and now they were faced once again with reality.

"I'm sorry. I know I say it every time but…"

"I told you. You don't have to explain. I understand." Olivia said, cutting him off once again. She shot him a small smile before making her way towards the en-suite bathroom, "I'll see you on the plane." She said, not waiting for an answer before she closed the bathroom door, leaving him stood alone and staring after her.

His dark brown eyes lingered on the door, hearing the shower turn on. Part of him wanted to follow her inside, tell her he was an idiot and that he wanted to stay. The thought of leaving again, after what they'd shared tore him up inside, but he knew he had no choice. To stay would make this more than it already was and he wasn't sure he was quite ready for that, but at the same time he was struggling to leave her alone.

Every night they'd shared together, he'd sworn would be their last, yet every time after that he ended up right back here, with her. He couldn't explain what was happening, why that was the case, why he couldn't just walk away from this and stay away. He'd always been able to maintain control, keep himself in check but something about Olivia, about the connection between them caused him to give in to his more basic desires. He got to shrug off the weight he carried as leader, to just be Aaron.

It couldn't go on though. He was lonely and being selfish. She deserved more than what he could offer her, what he was willing to give her. He wasn't ready for any of that, not since Haley…not now he had Jack to think about. No. This had to be it, this had to be the last time.

Shrugging his jacket on over his shoulders, Hotch pulled his gaze away from the bathroom and headed for the door. Opening it, he peered outside before stepping out and heading back to his own room, ready to slip back into the role as leader of this team.

 ** _-0-_**

Olivia couldn't watch him leave again. Closing herself off from in the bathroom gave her the necessary time to gather herself together. When they were together like they had been last night it was so easy, so uncomplicated, it was just the two of them with no barriers between them. For a few hours they could forget everything, forget the horror they were faced with on a daily basis, forget the fact that come morning they were back to being colleagues.

She treasured the moments they shared together, but she wanted more. She didn't want to wake up alone, or have to keep watching him leave. That said she couldn't find it in her to put any kind of pressure on him, to ask for more. No doubt that he was as conflicted as she was over all of this. No matter how many times he said, or she said that it couldn't happen again; they still managed to find their way back to each other.

In the four months since she'd started at the BAU, things had been moving a million miles an hour. There'd been no time for her to catch her breath, or get her head around all that had happened, her and Aaron included. They'd come together in a moment of shared grief, both just needing something, anything to take away the horror of what had happened, something to help them forget.

" _Where is she? Hotch?"_

" _She…she never made it off the table Olivia. Kate's gone."_

2 months on and the pain was still as fresh as it had been the moment he'd told her. He'd held her in the hospital as she had cried over the loss of her friend. The night after the funeral, the night before they were due to return home they'd shared a drink in his hotel room where they'd talked about not only Kate, but his struggles raising Jack. Aaron was scared, which was understandable considering what they knew was out there and she'd comforted him in turn over that.

That comfort had broken down the barriers between them, sparked something a little more forbidden between them. After that first touch, that first kiss, something had been created, an unstoppable force, pulling them together, no matter how unwilling they were. Doors had been opened, ones Olivia wasn't sure she'd ever be able to close.

 ** _-0-_**

As the plane flew the familiar route from Kansas back to Washington, the people inside were silent, all of them absorbed in doing their own thing. It was a comfortable sort of silence, no need to try and fill it with any unnecessary chatter. The different personalities and such were only plainly obvious in times like these, times when they were able to let their guards down.

Hotch found it somewhat of a favourite past time now to sit and observe his team. He knew without looking that behind him Morgan was sat with his earphones on listening to his music and staring out the window. JJ had her head buried in a pregnancy book, her hand lovingly caressing her rounded stomach. Reid was devouring his second book. Rossi was reading a case file.

Then there was Olivia. He'd found he watched her the most as of late, taking in little nuances he hadn't noticed before. Like the way she bit down on her lip when she absorbed in her reading. The way she always sat with her legs tucked beneath her or resting against the arm of the chair, instead of sitting upright like most of them did. The adorable way in which she always had a packet of jelly babies on hand. The way her nose crinkled when she laughed. That incredible sparkle in her eyes…

"You hearing anything I'm saying?"

Hotch snapped his eyes forward to see the amused look on his good friend and trusted colleague David Rossi's face. A signature frown settled back onto his features and he looked down at the case file he held before shooting Rossi an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. What were you saying?" he asked, not missing the spark of something pass over Rossi's face.

"Something on your mind Aaron?" the older man asked, watching Hotch carefully. He hadn't missed how distracted the other man was lately, how he seemed to get lost in his own thoughts more and more. Yet instead of being worried Rossi just figured it was only natural, considering what was going on. He knew a lot more than either Hotch or Olivia wanted him to, wanted anyone too. He'd picked up on the spark between them the second she'd walked into the BAU.

 _Special Agent Olivia Rook stood before both Hotch and Rossi, with wide, inquisitive honey brown eyes. Her thick chocolate locks were tied back in an elegant, loose chignon hairstyle. Her skin was like porcelain with a slight blush to her cheeks, a true English rose. When that smile was directed his way Hotch felt his breath catch in his throat and something deep in his chest, flare to life._

" _Agent Hotchner, Agent Rossi, it's a pleasure to finally meet you both," she said in a way of greeting them both, her hand outstretched to them. Hotch felt stunned, but let her delicate hand slip in his own, some kind of current passing between them, up their arms and warming their chests before they let their hands fall to their sides._

" _Likewise Agent Rook." He managed to reply. "Agent Joyner's told us a lot about you." He watched as Olivia smiled warmly and nodded her head._

" _All good I hope." She joked; clasping her hands together in front of her and her eyes darted between both Rossi and Hotch._

" _Come. I'll introduce you to the team." Rossi said, interrupting the moment, waving down towards the bullpen where JJ, Reid, Morgan and Garcia all sat pretending they weren't trying to look into Hotch's office. Olivia smiled and nodded her head before following Rossi out of the office, all the while resisting the temptation to look back at the man they were leaving behind._

 _In front of her, Rossi smirked only slightly. He hadn't missed the interaction, or what had passed between them and he was sure things were about to get much more interesting around here._

She'd been like a breath of fresh air to the team. Bonding instantly with the rest of them and easily finding her place within their little group. Rossi knew the ramifications a romantic relationship could have, how it may upset the balance of the team but he couldn't help but root for the two of them. He knew Hotch would deny there being more there and it was to be expected. After all it had only been a couple years since Haley's death.

Still, he firmly believed in grabbing opportunities when they were given to you. If what was happening between Hotch and Olivia was more than just chemistry then they needed to hold onto it. Hotch needed to embrace it. Maybe Hotch was happy living in denial over what he felt, but he deserved a chance to be happy.

Rossi only hoped he realised it soon, before he let that chance slip through his fingers.

 _ **-0-**_

 _ **So here I finally decided to post. Resisted writing this for a while but finally caved. I really hope you guys like this story. It's important to me to get it out there, and I really hope you guys like Olivia as much as me, come the next chapter you'll get to see much more about who she is and hers and Aaron's connection and her relationship with the others on the team.**_

 _ **I do hate to ask but if you guys read and like, can you leave a review to let me know your thoughts. I am a little self-conscious about this story in particular because it is Criminal Minds and the last thing I want to do is find no one is interested. So please, leave some love if you will!**_


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